Thursday, July 10, 2014

"I Feel Fine" Outtakes

On October 18 1964, The Beatles had a "Power Session" and recorded eight songs within one day. One of the songs included in the session was the next single written mainly by John entitled "I Feel Fine". This tune would be recorded specially for the single and would not appear on the latest LP.
There are various outtakes available on bootleg that start with the song one key higher than the commercial release, then the current key is attempted after that. Take 1 is in the key of A and all other takes are in the key of G. Takes 1,2,5,6,7 and 9 can be found CD as "The Ultimate Collection, Volume three: Studio Sessions 1964". Takes 6, 7 and 9 can also be found on vinyl as "Ultra Rare Trax, Volume 3 and 4" as well as on CD as "Unsurpassed Masters, Volume 07".
"I Feel Fine" was mixed three days later. The UK mono mix for the single has a touch of reverb on the vocals and the instruments are dry but the stereo mix is mainly dry. The US mix - on the other hand - is absolutely drenched in reverb with the effect on everything !! (Thanks Dave Dexter Jr; I say sarcastically). Also there is a strange mix that can be found on the compilation Apple vinyl LP 1962-1966 that has a bit of whispering at the beginning.
Also released on the recent Apple 3-LP/2-CD "On Air - Live At the BBC Volume 2", there are some unnumbered outtakes of "I Feel Fine" being recorded on November 17 1964 for BBC radio for the show "Top Gear" (although these had already shown up on the bootleg CD "The Beatles Broadcast Collection Trailer 1". I've included the commercial version below.
As an aside, another outtake for the EMI session included "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey" (take 2) and this version can be found on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 1".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JaBrxwFWGk

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